Money can buy happiness, but not necessarily good sense or mechanical sympathy, these days. In this video from a father-son duo of luxury car collectors named The Satin Crew, we see an Aston Martin Vantage AMR take quite a beating as it navigates a tough, rocky off-road trail following in the footsteps of a Ram 1500 TRX. The Satin Crew, with over 100,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube, made quite the buzz earlier this year with their concept of supercar camping. The goal? Taking a bunch of sports cars and supercars out into the wild, foregoing GPS navigation for good ol’ maps and stars, and comfortable hotels for roof-top tents.
The troupe consisted of a BMW E36 M3, a Mercedes-AMG GT R tuned to over 670 horsepower, a Mercedes-AMG G63, a Hellcat-engined Ram 1500 TRX, and an Aston Martin Vantage AMR. The Vantage AMR was introduced in limited quantities in 2017, as a swansong for the Vantage before the new Vantage dropped in 2018.
Just 200 V8 models were slated for production, of which only 137 were made as a coupe. Incidentally, this model kicked off the AMR line for Aston Martin. The car sports a 4.7-liter V8 with 430 horsepower, with a 7-speed automated sequential manual or a 6-speed manual gearbox. Performance, while heady, isn’t exactly blistering with a 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds, thanks to its 3,550 pound herb weight.
Of more importance here is the fact that this Aston was taken off-road on what appears to be standard road tires. The short social media clip shows the Vantage AMR following the Ram TRX over a rocky trail, often grounding out completely and likely damaging the aerodynamic underbody panels.
While we’re generally proponents of driving cars hard, using them as they’re meant to be used, this would appear to be a step too far. That said, the entire crew appears to be having the time of their lives — if social media attention follows, then so be it.
Other videos uploaded by The Satin Crew show the group driving through other trails, getting the tail out on these powerful rear-wheel drive sports cars and supercars every chance they get. Powersliding a car certainly counts as one of life’s small joys, and it’s not often the world sees such cars being treated like toys off-road. If nothing else, The Satin Crew is doing what many car collectors with substantial bank accounts should be doing — enjoying their cars.
